Search - South Side Slim :: Five Steps

Five Steps Review

Kris Handel | NH | 04/20/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"On Five Steps, Henry Harris (aka. South Side Slim) first full solo cd he lets his amazing talent shine through. South Side Slim is a young blues performer out in Cal. with wonderful songwriting, singing and playing ability. Slim takes you through many styles of blues on this disc and all of them are a delight. The opener "Just A Thing" is a scorching minor key blues with some amazing guitar from Slim that let's you know he is not the ordinary blues player. On "Junkyard Dog" Slim takes the tempo down a little bit without any difference and sounds just as good. "Woman is My Weakness" is a great shuffle blues with great playing from the band especially Deacon Jones on Keyboard and Slim on guitar. Next up is "I Was Hooked" another shuffle that keeps everything nice and smooth. The next song "Can't Stop My Drinking" shows Slim's talent outside of straight blues with some straight forward rocking guitar. The next song of notice is track 7 "Five Steps" which is a very good slow blues that shows off both Slim's singing and guitar playing. The next song "Let Me Down Easy" is the furthest away from the blues moving into classic R&B style that sounds like it could have come from the golden age of rhythm and blues. The next 2 songs are "It Was You" and "Roadhouse Blues", the former a slow simmering blues, while the latter has more of a swing feel to it. "Going Fishing" is another rockin' blues tune with some very amusing lyrics with double entendre. "That's All I Need" a cover of Magic Sam is done very straight and well with Slim adding his unique voice to a great song. The las 2 songs end the cd very nicely with "Messed Up" a very fast blues and the CD ends with a beautiful slow shuffle blues. This is one of the best debut CD's and Slim is one person to look forward to hearing more from. If you are a fan of many styles buy this disc you won't be dissapointed, it will blow you away."